Zdeněk Převorovský came from a renowned family of engineers (his father, a civil engineer, held some 30 patents). He graduated from high school (1959–1963) and the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University (1964–1970), and in 1970 joined the Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (today the Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences), where he worked for 55 years and also founded the field and laboratory of non-destructive testing of materials and structures, serving for 10 years as a member and for four years as chairman of the Institute of Thermomechanics’ Scientific Council.
A scientist and educator through and through He developed the field of NDT to an international level and served as a prominent official in numerous Czech and international organizations. For twenty years, he was vice president of the Czech Society for Non-Destructive Testing, and he was one of the first to receive an award for significant contributions to the development of NDT. As a member of the Czech Society for Mechanics, he served as chairman of the Acoustic Methods in Mechanics Section for four years and as a member of the Composite Materials Section committee for eight years.
He developed a number of original experimental procedures in fracture mechanics and ultrasonic diagnostics and played a significant role in the development of both laboratory and industrial AE analyzers. He applied new procedures in ultrasonic and AE methods across a range of industrial and scientific fields, including nuclear and conventional power plants, mechanical engineering, aviation, the chemical industry, construction, gas pipelines, biotechnology, and medicine.
Zdeněk Převorovský’s great passion was education. He remained loyal to his alma mater—the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering (FJFI) at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT)—throughout his life, and shared his wealth of experience at the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Materials Science, and the Department of Nuclear and Fusion Reactors, where he also served as the course coordinator and lecturer for the courses “Analysis and Processing of Diagnostic Signals” and “Non-Destructive Diagnostics.”
At the same time, he was a prominent member of the Group of Applied Mathematics and Stochastic. In the Czech Republic, he led lectures and seminars at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FSI) of the Czech Technical University (ČVUT), the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (MFF) of Charles University (UK), the Technical University of Liberec (TU), and the Brno University of Technology (VUT). In addition, he lectured to students at universities abroad, supervised their bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral theses, and served on examination committees in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and elsewhere.
He dedicated his entire professional life to the Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he raised the field of non-destructive diagnostics of materials and structures to a high professional and personal standard.
Through his work, he made a significant contribution to the international development of this field and mentored numerous students and successors.
He was a respected expert, an active member and representative of domestic and international professional societies, and a long-time faculty member at the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He shared his experience with generosity and enthusiasm, inspiring students and colleagues both at home and abroad.
A New Name Enters the NDT Scene He made his debut in the non-destructive testing community at the 10th annual DEFEKTOSKOPIE 1979 seminar, held in Mariánské Lázně as part of the 30th anniversary of SVÚM Prague. It was the second seminar to feature presentations introducing the NDT method of acoustic emission, and it was here that the people who continue to shape the history of this method to this day first took the stage—among them, Ing. Zdeněk Převorovský, CSc., from the Institute of Technology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague, who made a significant contribution. This marked the beginning of his long-standing career in Czechoslovak and global non-destructive testing.
When the exceptionally successful 25th European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing (EWGAE) was held in Prague in September 2002—whose two-volume proceedings contained more than 80 technical papers by authors from around the world—Ing. Zdeněk Převorovský was one of the main organizers and the editor of the proceedings; he then served for many years (2003–2022) as the organizer of the international conferences NDT in Progress – Workshop of NDT Experts.
The most significant international recognition of the ČNDT’s work was the awarding of the prestigious 11th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT) to Prague. And it was precisely Ing. Zdeněk Převorovský who played a significant role in enabling Prague to host this major international event on November 9–11, 2014, which brought together approximately 2,500 researchers, industry experts, students, and manufacturers of NDT equipment.
Thanks in part to his efforts, the conference was attended by leading NDT experts, including a Nobel laureate. This event of extraordinary significance was the largest of its kind in the Czech Republic and also a unique opportunity to learn about the work of world-class experts in the field of NDT.
Last but not least, the results of Ing. Převorovský’s work in the acoustic emission method were recognized by representatives of the European Working Group on AE (EWGAE), who awarded Prague the honor of hosting the most significant European gathering in this field. As part of the 32nd EWGAE conference, leading experts in this method from around the world gathered in Prague from September 7 to 9, 2016. The conference, which Ing. Převorovský co-organized, also included an exhibition where most of the world’s equipment manufacturers presented the latest trends in technical equipment for users of the acoustic emission method.
A distinguished representative of Czech science and its connections to the world, Ing. Převorovský was also a long-standing active member of Academic NDT International in Bergamo, an organization bringing together representatives of NDT research from European countries. For several terms (2015–2024), he served on the steering committee of this prestigious institution, where he represented the Czech Republic and ensured the transfer of the latest scientific findings to the domestic environment. His international standing is further confirmed by the fact that he was selected to deliver an invited lecture at the aforementioned 11th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT). An interesting detail that illustrates his broad cultural perspective is that, as part of this scientific forum, he also presented a paper on the figure of Václav Havel, thereby connecting the technical world with humanistic values. In this context, it is also worth mentioning the lesser-known fact that he was an active participant in dissident meetings prior to the Velvet Revolution in 1989. These gatherings were organized by writer, journalist, and politician Daňa Horáková, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University.
Zdeněk Převorovský was also an outstanding musician and a co-founder of the jazz band ERASTUS, in which he performed as a singer (and originally as a trumpeter) until the end of his life. The repertoire of this group, which later performed under the name Swing Cheek, included genres such as spirituals, gospel, and soul.
He was always a visionary and was able to identify trends that would shape the narrative of the future well in advance. He very early on recognized the importance of information regarding the material condition of engineering components, which can be obtained by understanding the signals emitted by these components under various loads (acoustic emission) or in response to ultrasonic excitation. This led to his international involvement in the NDT community, where he held significant positions.
From the perspective of application philosophy, he was one of the first to advocate for the importance of SHM (Structural Health Monitoring), that is, monitoring the “health” of a mechanical structure, much like we monitor the health of the human body. His projects in the fields of nonlinear ultrasonic spectroscopy and time-reversal were also pioneering.
It also soon became clear to him that to find “hidden treasures” in measured signals, we need to use the latest neural network models—that is, apply machine learning. He introduced and developed these approaches at the Institute of Thermomechanics with his group of colleagues and students, many of whom went on to become renowned experts.
A Legacy That Endures His extraordinary productivity—driven not merely by academic credit but by a genuine desire to understand the essence of things—is also evidenced by his publishing output (over 150 scientific papers) and his authorship of five patents. As editor-in-chief of the professional journal of the Czech Society for Non-Destructive Testing, NDT Welding Bulletin, he cultivated Czech terminology in the field and ensured that professional discourse did not lose its depth.
The core of Zdeněk Převorovský’s scientific legacy was the development and promotion of nonlinear ultrasonic spectroscopy (Nonlinear Elastic Wave Spectroscopy – NEWS). His professional legacy remains an integral part of the field in which he worked his entire life. Zdeněk Převorovský’s vitality and joy of discovery transcended the boundaries of science. They remain with us, just as the musical legacy of his life’s journey does.